Solar collector and method of making same

Abstract

A solar collector includes a transparent envelope and an absorber panel extending therethrough, the transparent envelope being constituted of a transparent plastic tube of smaller diameter than the width of the absorber panel such that the absorber panel supports the transparent plastic tube in an oval shape. In the described method of making the solar collector, a transparent plastic sheet is first bent into a right circular cylinder with its longitudinal edges secured together; and then a rigid absorber panel, having a width greater than the diameter of the cylinder, is inserted into the cylinder to deform it into an oval shape.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method of making a solar collector including a transparent envelope and an absorber panel extending therethrough, characterized in that a deformable transparent plastic sheet is first bent into a right circular cylindar with its longitudinal edges secured together; and then a rigid absorber panel, having a width greater than the diameter of the cylinder, is inserted into the cylinder to deform same into an oval shape and to form said transparent envelope with said absorber panel extending therehrough. 
     
     
       2. The method according to claim 1, wherein insulating spacers are applied to the opposite longitudinal edges of the absorber panel before the same in inserted into the cylinder. 
     
     
       3. The method according to claim 1, further characterized in that the ends of the transparent plastic sheet, after being deformed by the absorber panel into said oval shape, closed by end plates having apertures through which pass tubular ends of a fluid conduit formed in the absorber panel, said tubular ends receiving locking rings engaging the outer faces of the end plates and pressing their inner faces against the ends of the oval-bent transparent sheet.